As a ray of sunlight shone through the window, Chen Xuan slowly opened his eyes.
Yawning, he climbed up from the sofa and stretched lazily.
Everything that happened last night was still vivid in his mind.
He found himself immersed in the battlefield, witnessing a cold weapon warfare up close... but to say it was entirely cold weapons wouldn't be accurate, at least not for Joan. She was enveloped in a radiant glow, each sword light cutting dozens of meters away, the enemies crumbling like fresh snow. Despite their numbers being over ten times greater than Joan's forces, they were still routed by such an overwhelming counter-charge.
Chen Xuan and this shop became Joan's temporary rear base.
Injured soldiers were continuously brought in for emergency treatment at the store entrance. Indeed, there was hot water and strong spirits in the shop, and Chen Xuan even found a first aid kit filled with gauze and tape in the cabinet.
He could have ignored these people.
The ability transaction was completed, and their life and death had nothing to do with him.
But everyone gazed at him with admiration, with more than five cavalry trailing him wherever he went, seemingly afraid he might encounter any danger. From their expressions, it was clear that if any enemies slipped past the front line to attack the shop, these guards would undoubtedly shield him from the sharp sword with their bodies.
Chen Xuan couldn't remain indifferent, so he decided to help out.
The scattered towels, blood stains, and broken armor on the floor were proof—he indeed participated in the war that changed the fate of the Holy Maiden.
Joan won without a hitch.
Defeating a thousand with a hundred, winning decisively and neatly.
She neither lost the battle nor was captured, and Compiegne wouldn't be her end.
"Wait a minute!" Chen Xuan suddenly slapped his forehead. Could history really have changed just like that!?
What would a France with Joan still alive look like?
He quickly opened a webpage to search for related information, only to find that this part of history seemed unchanged... Joan still died at 19 by fire, with the reason exactly the same as before.
"Whew..."
Luckily, it seemed he was overthinking. This Joan probably came from another world, and what happened wouldn't affect the present world.
That made sense; after all, they could raise morale and combat strength with flags there. Differences between the two worlds were reasonable.
Chen Xuan opened the inventory, and inside were two more abilities.
Gaining a gold rarity ability on his second store transaction—didn't that mean he had quite the talent for business?
Losing Spirit Sword Technique was indeed regrettable, but after all, it was merely an ordinary level ability.
Besides, it was the only thing that could change Joan's plight at the time.
He hadn't expected that using the Spirit Sword Technique on her would be a completely different concept than when he used it himself. Theoretically, it was the same ability... the discrepancy shouldn't be that vast.
Setting aside this doubt, Chen Xuan applied the two new abilities to himself and began to personally experience their effects.
After all, the descriptions on the trading software seemed quite unreliable.
"Hmm... this gold ability seems close to causality. As long as the ideology aligns with the other party, you can gain goodwill and support no matter what you do."
He quietly sensed for a moment before picking up his phone and finding the number of a former big company colleague.
"Hello? Brother Xuan, long time no see! Why did you suddenly think of calling me? Is there a good job referral?"
"Nothing else, it's just that I'm quite short on money recently. Could you lend me a—"
"Toot—"
Before he could finish, the sound of being hung up came from the other side.
Chen Xuan shrugged; evidently, not every ideology would work.
He wanted to make money, and surely his colleague did too. From this perspective, their ideologies should align, yet the new ability didn't take effect, indicating there were indeed some limitations.
He closed his eyes, attempting to gain insights into its usage from Joan's experience, but no revelations emerged in his mind. He quickly realized a trader's proficiency with an ability wouldn't surpass that of its original owner. Joan had never been aware of this ability, relying purely on instinct to drive everything, so he couldn't derive any related experience.
This was unlike Herbalism and Spirit Sword Technique... Liu Shuyue clearly knew about these two abilities and had put considerable effort into practicing them.
However, it didn't have too much of an impact.
He could make bold assumptions, after all.
Looking back at Joan's life, she fought for her country's liberation while her soldiers and generals shared the same belief. Borrowing money is a zero-sum process; everyone wants more money, but if one borrows it, the other's money decreases. So even if the ideology is similar, it doesn't work.
Perhaps it requires an ideology that doesn't harm both parties' shared interests?
In that case... the application scope of this ability would undoubtedly be quite narrow.
Chen Xuan thought for a while but couldn't find a suitable use. Despite "Liberty Leading the People" being a gold ability, in terms of personal applicability, it might not be as good as many White Abilities.
Next, he switched to "Voice of Trust," found that colleague's WeChat, and dialed a WeChat call.
"Hello? The signal just now was bad..."
"Don't call me again; I just bought a house and was thinking of asking you for a loan."
The conversation ended abruptly.
When Chen Xuan looked at his phone again, he saw a WeChat prompt: "Please add as a friend first."
There it was, during the second conversation, he could feel the rejection on the other end even through the phone. If disdain and indifference could be considered a form of malice, then he deeply felt it.
This ability... is practically a nemesis of telecom scams.
"Ding-dong."
Suddenly, a mail icon popped up in the bottom right corner of the screen.
Chen Xuan opened it and found that his previous rating application had been approved, and he was now a Level 2 store manager.
He had almost forgotten about it without being reminded.
Chen Xuan switched back to the abilities page and found the multicolored Legendary Ability had indeed turned to Level 2, with an added "change details" option underneath. Hovering the mouse over it, several lines of text immediately appeared.
—"You seem more like a store manager now, and the shop looks more like an establishment."
"The 2nd Layer's accommodation department is now open, you can conduct client follow-ups; ability synchronization limit has risen to Level 2."
"Non-tradeable, non-transferable. Store manager's current status: still alive."
What does this mean... 2nd Layer?
He had explored this shop thoroughly on the very first day, there was only a shopping area plus an employee restroom, where did the second layer come from?
Half-doubtful, Chen Xuan walked outside the counter and was immediately shocked by the sight in front of him—a staircase appeared on the left of the counter, which had clearly been just a white wall!
Now there really was a 2nd Layer.
When did this change happen? He hadn't noticed this when he woke up earlier.
Could it be that the moment he opened the email, the staircase appeared instantaneously?
Full of curiosity, Chen Xuan walked up the stairs... This floor looked just as exquisite as the first, with carpets underfoot, walls made of assembled solid wood, and with lighting hidden in the ceiling making the whole feel quite cozy. The stairs were connected to a small resting area of three to four square meters, flanked by hallways and row after row of room doors, each marked with numbers like 201, 202.
It was essentially configured like a hotel, Chen Xuan couldn't help but chuckle aloud.
He wasn't laughing at anything in particular, just the absurdity of it all. Residential buildings in the area had a uniform design, with the ground floors made into shops and residential apartments starting from the second floor. That means, even if this 2nd Layer was hidden well, it would've been impossible to fit such a large space between floors out of thin air.
What if the store manager level continues to increase, would it add more layers? After all, he'd be the one paying for the utilities.
Approaching a door, Chen Xuan wanted to see what kind of room it was inside, only to find that he couldn't open it.
The door was locked.
Its electronic lock screen even had a prompt: Please swipe key card.
The facilities were indeed well-done.
Back on the first floor, tinkering with the manager software, Chen Xuan found there was no universal key card. He had to register guests in a lodging status to get corresponding key cards, and the software didn't allow the store manager to register himself as a guest, so he had no way of opening the door.
This completely breaks the rules.
If only guests can open the door, how would housekeeping be done? If a room's furnishings were damaged or stolen by guests, how would he check on it?
Forget it... since he couldn't figure it out, he decided to let it go rather than worrying needlessly.
Chen Xuan chose to make peace with the problem.
The other change with Level 2 was easily understood, though he couldn't immediately verify it without Spirit Sword Technique, he could infer the reason why Joan experienced such a disparity when using it—most likely due to this synchronization limit. With him being a Level 1 store manager, Spirit Sword Technique was capped at Level 1 while Joan was utilizing all of its Level 5 potential, thereby feeling worlds apart.
So, raising the store manager's rank was particularly important.
Chen Xuan also didn't forget to check the requirements for the next level-up; performance points required had risen to 10... Obviously, this standard would only grow higher.
If the shop hadn't gone bankrupt by then.